SEO Content Marketing Roundup, Week Ending May 25th, 2011

Are you doing the right thing? This seems to be the big question punctuating this week’s latest and greatest Web writing news, as Google’s house-cleaning continues to color discussion among SEO and search professionals, and content and social media marketers weigh in on the right way to pursue (and measure) success in their respective spheres. Do the right thing now, and catch up with this week’s righteous selections…

Content Marketing:

It’s back to landing page conversion basics with this Content Marketing Institute guest post by Brian Massey, while Copyblogger’s radio podcast addresses marketing the old-fashioned way (earning it).

Lee Odden delineates 11 ways to effectively promote infographic content at TopRank, while Kristi Hines posts simple Twitter searches to spark content ideas at Vertical Measures.

Gary Vaynerchuk posts tip #3 (in his ongoing video blog series) on succeeding in the thank you economy at Open Forum.

Great post (and pdf download) by Shelly Bowen on “content strategy deliverables” at pybop.

What do Chris Brogan and Madonna have in common?  The answer’s at HubSpot (via video interview with Chris Brogan).

Five strategies for maximizing your site’s conversion rate are posted at Mashable, while six “mobile-important” marketing questions are answered at HubSpot.

Seven ways to rescue your business blog from the blahs are offered at ProBlogger.

A streamlined approach to completely rebranding a company is posted at iMedia Connection, and Copyblogger posts how your own worst enemy can become the key to your blogging authority.

eMarketer ponders whether fewer online marketing channels may be better for smaller businesses (with interesting supporting stats), and reports that tablets beat smartphones for online shopping and purchases.

Meanwhile, Jakob Nielsen posts “iPad Usability Year One” at UseIt.com’s Alertbox.

Speaking of interesting stats, HubSpot offers a free download of its 100 “awesome” marketing stats, charts, graphs, and data, divided into six chapters.  (You know, when you have that free moment…)

Citing eMarketer data, HubSpot also reports that a respectable 60-percent of social media messages are links to published content.

Kinda wild: Neuromarketing reports a study showing that an Apple evangelist’s brain reacts to Apple images the same way a religious fanatic’s brain might react to “god.”  (Then follows up with rational discussion).

Finally, Kiss Metrics posts why you should build a sitemap before turning your site over to the designers.

SEO & Search:

On the theme of doing the right thing:  Dr. Pete discusses marketing ethics beyond black/white hat SEO (“persuasion vs. manipulation”) at SEOmoz.

And by the way, Matt McGee of Search Engine Land reports that 90 days after being penalized by Google, JC Penney has regained its rankings.

And speaking of Matt McGee, his interview by Elise Redlin-Cook is posted at Vertical Measures.

Gabriella Sannino guest posts on how the New York Times has become the self-appointed Google SEO bulldog at grow map, and discusses SEO as focused marketing (as opposed to a gaming of Google) at Level 343.

SEOmoz posts “21 content types to share with Google,” as well as a great how-to on site audits.

Lee Odden posts two great reads at Top Rank:  one on dominating your niche with social SEO and blogging, and the second on core content SEO tools.

Marketing Sherpa posts how to serve two markets with one page through landing page optimization.

Ian Lurie posts how to do keyword research (that doesn’t suck) at Conversation Marketing, and Heather Lloyd-Martin explains why the persistent question of keyword density is moot at SEO Copywriting

Mobile SEO tips are shared at SEOmoz (whiteboard Friday presentation), while State of Search posts an infographic of the 10 commandments of linkbuilding (complete with the stone tablets).

More on “Google doesn’t laugh” (originally posted at The Atlantic) is at ragan.com, and Matt McGee reports that the big G’s search team finally got its own blog (“Inside Search”) at Search Engine Land.

Takeaway’s from “SEO for the Connected Consumer” are posted at Top Rank, and HubSpot posts seven ways to integrate search engine and social media marketing.

More takeaway’s, these from Distilled’s Pro SEO seminar in Boston, are posted at Vertical Measures.

Social Media Marketing:

How to use social media for SEO is posted by Nick Stamoulis at Site Pro News.

eMarketer ponders what’s next for LinkedIn (post IPO) and discusses Facebook success beyond the “like.”

iMedia Connection shares five tips for building a “super sticky” Facebook page, and Marty Weintraub of aimClear posts the best kept secret of Facebook ads at Search Engine Watch.

Search Engine Land reports that YouTube’s “first watch” program is creating a “massive reach” for video ads.

Eight brands that have found success on Facebook are at Mashable, and Marketing Sherpa posts a webinar replay of how CMO’s are monetizing social media and measuring ROI.

Chris Brogan posts a brief how-to on powering up your LinkedIn profile, and Jay Baer presents a new way to calculate what Facebook is worth to your business at Convince and Convert.

The four key elements for measuring social media via Hootsuite analytics are posted at Level 343, while Webbiquity wonders what B2B social media success looks like.

The Next Web reports that Facebook is testing a new page recommendation tool, and Mashable reports on Twitter’s new retweet email notification service.

And finally, Sexy Social Media ponders Twitter’s impact on news coverage.